Giovanni wants to investigate the effects of a new drug for attention deficit disorder in children. He has the pharmacist make envelopes of the drug and a control drug for each day of the trial. Neither the researcher nor the family knows which drug is given on a particular day. Each day the family and the teacher rate the child's behavior. At the end of the study the pharmacist reveals which days the child got the drug. This type of study is using the __________ design.
A) randomization
B) double-blind
C) placebo
D) quasi-experimental

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This study is using a double-blind design because both the researcher and the families are unaware of which drug the child is receiving on a particular day. This helps to control for biases and ensures that the results are not influenced by expectations or knowledge of which drug is being given. Randomization refers to the process of randomly assigning participants to different groups and is typically used in experimental designs. Placebo refers to a substance or treatment that has no active ingredients, but is given to participants in order to control for the placebo effect. Quasi-experimental refers to a type of research design that does not involve random assignment to groups.

Giovanni Wants to Investigate the Effects of a New Drug